IELTS essay – These days more fathers stay at home and take care of their

These days more fathers stay at home and take care of their children while mothers go out to work. What could be the reasons for this? Do you think it is a positive or a negative development?

Traditionally, fathers worked while mothers stayed at home to look after children. Gender roles have changed a lot nowadays. Women are no longer confined to cooking and looking after children just as much as men are longer restricted to being the sole breadwinner. Life has become a joint venture for couples where all responsibilities are shared.
Several factors contributed to this change. Increasing number of opportunites for women, lesser gender bias and willingness of men to stay at home have all contributed to this. More women are career oriented and are financially capable of taking care of the family without any contribution from the husband or partner. Fixed gender roles are challenged and they are not clearly defined anymore. Other reasons for men to stay at home could be varied. Disability, job-loss, vacation and fatigue could lead to stay at home fathers. This often occurs when the coules have children and one of the parents has to be home. One of them may wish to take a break from their busy careers for the family.
On the other hand, many conservative societies still have fixed gender roles where working women are frowned upon. They argue that women are naturally inclined to take care of children and that is how nature intended it to be while men were made to work and provide for the family. So this could be a positive development for women but may not be good for the family as father’s lack the mother’s natural caring instincts. In the long run its a positive development towards gender equality.

IELTS essay/writing task 2 – Family topics

Vocabulary:

Gender role : typical role of a person based on their gender. Ex: Role of a woman is to look after children

Conservative: holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion.

Disability: a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.

Fatigue: extreme tiredness, typically resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness